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10365764 
Technical Report 
Regional climate impacts: Alaska 
U.S. Global Change Research Program :: U.S. Global Change Research Program 
2009 
Cambridge University Press 
New York, NY 
Global climate change impacts in the United States: A state of knowledge report 
139-144 
English 
is part of a larger document 1518947 Global climate change impacts in the United States: A state of knowledge report
Over the past 50 years, Alaska has warmed at more than twice the rate of the rest of the United States’ average. Its annual average temperature has increased 3.4°F, while winters have warmed even more, by 6.3°F.2 As a result, climate change impacts are much more pronounced than in other regions of the United States. The higher temperatures are already contributing to earlier spring snowmelt, reduced sea ice, widespread glacier retreat, and permafrost warming.3,2 These observed changes are consistent with climate model projections of greater warming over Alaska, especially in winter, as compared to the rest of the country.